“Countdown” (1967) starring James Caan & Robert Duvall / Z-View
Countdown (1967)
Director: Robert Altman
Screenplay: Loring Mandel based on THE PILGRIM PROJECT by Hank Searles
Stars: James Caan, Robert Duvall, Joanna Moore, Barbara Baxley, Charles Aidman, Steve Ihnat, Steve Ihnat, Bobby Riha, Robert Buckingham, William Conrad (voice), Mike Farrell and Ted Knight.
Tagline: The motion picture that puts a man on the moon … and you will follow him every terrifying second of the way …
The Plot…
The time is the late 1960s. Russia and the United States are in a race to be the first to land a man on the moon.
At NASA astronauts training to be on the first team to land on the moon have their session cut short. The mission commander, Chiz (Duvall) is called to a meeting. The Russians have moved up their timeline. They are launching in just four weeks. There is no way the US squad will be ready, but there was a contingency plan in case something like this happened.
The US will send up one astronaut to land on the moon. Supplies and a pod will be sent up first. The astronaut will then live there for several months until a properly trained team will be launched to retrieve him.
Chiz is excited. He will be the first man on the moon!
Then Chiz learns that Russia, in a political move is sending up civilians to prove that theirs is a nonmilitary operation. The President has decided that NASA must do the same. Because Chiz is an Air Force colonel, he is eliminated from the mission. Lee (Caan), a civilian being trained as part of Chiz’s team, will be the one to go.
Chiz argues that Lee isn’t ready, he doesn’t have the training and will die if he’s sent. When it becomes clear that Lee is the chosen one, Chiz demands to lead the completion of Lee’s training.
The race is on…
Thoughts (beware of spoilers)…
NASA gave complete cooperation for filming and it shows! Cape Canaveral was a location.
Countdown was Robert Altman’s return to feature films after directing television projects for ten years. Things did not end well. When Altman had completed shooting, he was fired. Further, he was not welcome on the studio lot. The studio head, Jack Warner, hated that in some scenes Altman had two actors speaking at the same time.
Altman would go on to use overlapping dialogue in his future feature films. Robert Altman was an Academy Award nominee as Best Director five times (M*A*S*H; Nashville; The Player; Short Cuts and Gosford Park).
Because of Altman’s firing, new footage including a more upbeat ending was filmed by William Conrad. Conrad was an Executive Producer on the film as well as the voice of the television announcer. Altman’s ending had James Caan’s character, as his air supply ran out, walking in the wrong direction from the lunar pod.
Countdown was released a year and a half before the Apollo 11 moon landing.
Countdown (1967) rates 3 of 5 stars.